How embarrassing…

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14, NRSV)

Have you ever done anything embarrassing?

Where people pointed their fingers and laughed at you?

Have you ever laughed at someone else when they did something embarrassing?

When I think about moments like this I am taken to a moment in Star Wars Attack of the Clones, where Ob1 goes to Yoda because the planet he is looking for is not on the maps. And Yoda teaching a class of younglings says, “Lost a planet Ob1 has, how embarrassing, how embarrassing.”

We have all done things which will get fingers pointed and people laughing, but should we?

You see the parable in today’s text tells us that we should not point out the downfalls of others, but should look out for ourselves. We should not compare ourselves with others but only ask God to help us with our short comings. And if we hear Jesus, we only have to tell God to help us, because He already knows what needs work! So if we can open our selves up to Him and allow Him to work in and through us, we will become more like Him.

So the next time you are ready to compare yourself to someone else, stop and know you on,y need to worry about becoming more like Jesus and not your neighbor.

rescued…

Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, and my suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:10-15, NRSV)

Sometimes life seems to hard to handle.

Everything seems to be going against us.

We can not seem to get a footing and find our way.

We feel all alone and left out in the wilderness by ourselves…

But God has never left us nor forsaken us.

Just as Paul tells Timothy, even in the prison, God was with him.

We have to remember that even in the valley when it seems there is no where to go, that God is leading us on the path even when we can not see where we are going or think we are going the right way.

He will rescue us if we just believe in the promises He has given us.

boast

Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord. The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will attend to all those who are circumcised only in the foreskin: Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all those with shaven temples who live in the desert. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart. (Jeremiah 9:23-26, NRSV)

Have you ever bragged on yourself?

Have you ever bragged on your kids?

If you don’t have children you probably haven’t bragged about something your kids have done, but I believe it is safe to say we have all at some point in time bragged about something we have done.

We get caught up in the moment and start talking about how good we are and all of the great things we have done. But is this what we are suppose to be doing?

Boasting about our skills and how wonderful we are?

You see the prophet Jeremiah told the people that we are not to boast in our skills, or ourselves. We are to only boast about the Lord and what He has done for us.

So watch your bragging and boasting, and only boast in the Lord!

live where?

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion. (Psalm 84, NRSV)

Have you ever been homeless?

It is not an easy thing to take. A few years ago we were in kind of the situation we are now. Only we did not have jobs, nor the savings we did have recently (thanks in part to Dave Ramsey!).

At that point in time we were living with some friends, because they had a house big enough for the 2 of them and the 5 of us. we were very fortunate. But then they were adopting and needed to do a home study, and with us there it was not going to work…

So for a while we wondered where we wold live. We had not found a call, and we needed to be out of the house we were living in quickly so they could start the family we had been talking about for a long time. So we were almost homeless. We did find a place to stay and were taken care of.

And you see that is the point of the psalmist today. We need to rest and live in the house of the Lord. Does the swallow or the sparrow fret about where they will live? No they find a place, and if you are resting in the Lord, He will take care of you, just like He provides for the sparrow and the swallow!

Sound Quotes

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound. ~ William Shakespeare

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. ~ Douglas Adams

Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue. ~ Plato

All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. ~ Voltaire

What is a poet? An unhappy person who conceals profound anguish in his heart but whose lips are so formed that as sighs and cries pass over them they sound like beautiful music. ~ Soren Kierkegaard

The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. ~ Alan Dundes

The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach. ~ Henry Beston

Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic. ~ W. H. Auden

The bass, no matter what kind of music you’re playing, it just enhances the sound and makes everything sound more beautiful and full. When the bass stops, the bottom kind of drops out of everything. ~ Charlie Haden

I don’t like the sound of my voice. ~ Megan Fox

As soon as I hear a sound, it always suggests a mood to me. ~ Brian Eno

Doubt yourself and you doubt everything you see. Judge yourself and you see judges everywhere. But if you listen to the sound of your own voice, you can rise above doubt and judgment. And you can see forever. ~ Nancy Lopez

I do love perusing the dictionary to find how many words I don’t use – words that have specific, sharp, focused meaning. I also love the sound of certain words. I love the sound of the word pom-pom. ~ Geoffrey Rush

I go where the sound of thunder is. ~ Alfred M. Gray

Sound is the vocabulary of nature. ~ Pierre Schaeffer

There’s something about the sound of a train that’s very romantic and nostalgic and hopeful. ~ Paul Simon

For me it’s always contingent on getting a sound-the sound always suggests what kind of melody it should be. So it’s always sound first and then the line afterwards. ~ Brian Eno

The sound of laughter is like the vaulted dome of a temple of happiness. ~ Milan Kundera

Your limitations create your sound. ~ Norah Jones

If you’re feeling emotional when you’re creating something, it’ll sound that way. ~ Steve Vai

Listen to the sound of silence. ~ Paul Simon

As far as I’m concerned, ‘whom’ is a word that was invented to make everyone sound like a butler. ~ Calvin Trillin

The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie. ~ George Lucas

When you hear a large symphony orchestra. for instance, in a concert hall, there’s a big, sweeping sound that just doesn’t get on to a record. ~ Teddy Wilson

I’m a rapper… Gaga’s a fantastic artist, you know, she paved her way. She’s opened her own lane. But I think that I have my own lane. And we never cross. Ever. So, you know, I really don’t get the comparison anymore. Our music doesn’t sound the same. Our stage presence is not the same. I just can’t see the similarities. ~ Nicki Minaj

The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers. ~ Matsuo Basho

Music is what our feelings sound like. ~ Vera Farmiga

I like to jump some rope and swing kettle bells to get my blood pumping. It makes my voice sound better, and it clears my head. ~ Harry Connick, Jr.

It’s all about sound. It’s that simple. ~ Eddie Van Halen

You’ll find that empty vessels make the most sound. ~ Johnny Rotten

If you’re not Prince, you’re never going to sound like Prince. ~ Gwen Stefani

I don’t listen to music when I write. I need silence so I can hear the sound of the words. ~Mohsin Hamid

‘Benedict’ means ‘blessed.’ My parents liked the sound of the name and felt slightly blessed because they’d been trying for a child for a very long time. ~ Benedict Cumberbatch

No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently. ~ Agnes de Mille

A good voice isn’t so important. It’s more important to sound really unique. ~ Stephen Malkmus

I sounded like myself. People be saying I sound like Miles or Clifford Brown. ~ Wynton Marsalis

The movie Spinal Tap rocked my world. It’s for rock what The Sound of Music was for hills. They really nailed how dumb rock can be. ~ Jack Black

Every Christmas should begin with the sound of bells, and when I was a child mine always did. But they were sleigh bells, not church bells, for we lived in a part of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where there were no churches. ~ Paul Engle

When I watch a movie, I don’t make a sound or move. The more I’m into the movie, the more bored I look. ~ Rob Zombie

Speaking is what most people work on. They forget the thinking and the breathing and instead try to occupy space with sound. ~ Margaret Heffernan

A linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas ~ Ferdinand de Saussure

I think people have been really receptive to understanding that I’ve grown up and the music’s going to sound a little different. ~ Joe Jonas

I think we love bacon because it has all the qualities of an amazing sensory experience. When we cook it, the sizzling sound is so appetizing, the aroma is maddening, the crunch of the texture is so gratifying and the taste delivers every time. ~ Alexandra Guarnaschelli

A laugh is a weird sound, and when you get a couple thousand people making it at once, it’s really strange. But when I can feel proud of myself for causing it, it’s great. ~ Billy Crystal

I love a visceral sound, the kind that hits you in the belly. ~ Esa-Pekka Salonen

Theaters are great. They’re designed to sound good, not for basketball. ~ Les Claypool

My music is very personal. I’ve created it in solitude. I face a white wall and beller. I like that sound – the expression of loneliness. That’s what it’s all about. ~ Dwight Yoakam

If it wasn’t for 2 Live Crew videos wouldn’t look like they do and rappers wouldn’t sound like they do. ~ Luther Campbell

A lot of times, when a band finds success with a certain style or sound, they have a really hard time breaking away from that to grow as artists. ~ Matt Cameron

I keep these songs in my head until I get behind the microphone. I never spend more than 30 or 40 minutes singing the vocal or it will sound mechanical. There are always mistakes, but it’s about feeling more than being perfect. ~ Brian McKnight

I was made fun of a lot in high school because of the way I sound and the way I was. ~ Chris Colfer

I tend to thrive on being misquoted. It’s the only way I sound good. ~ Jamie Campbell Bower

It’s never what you say, but how you make it sound sincere. ~ Marya Mannes

Heard in full sound, the Gospels tell about the establishment of a theocracy, and portray what theocracy looks like with Jesus as king. ~ N. T. Wright

The deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural… The brighter it becomes, the more it loses its sound, until it turns into silent stillness and becomes white. ~ Wassily Kandinsky

Now that the 90’s are over and more time has gone by, the 80’s sound fresh again. ~ Nina Blackwood

The color of the mountains is Buddha’s body; the sound of running water is his great speech. ~ Dogen

Music is organized sound. ~ Edgard Varese

The blues – the sound of a sinner on revival day. ~ William Christopher Handy

I was left with an urge to make the guitar sound like things it shouldn’t be able to sound like. ~ Adrian Belew

I think that George Lucas’ ‘Star Wars’ films are fantastic. What he’s done, which I admire, is he has taken all the money and profit from those films and poured it into developing digital sound and surround sound, which we are using today. ~ Peter Jackson

Laughter is the mind’s intonation. There are ways of laughing which have the sound of counterfeit coins. ~ Edmond de Goncourt

The sound of the orchestra is one of the most magnificent musical sounds that has ever existed. ~ Chick Corea

Fortunately, as we all know, it’s impossible for anybody but Jimmy Smith to really sound like Jimmy Smith. ~ Benmont Tench

It’s the group sound that’s important, even when you’re playing a solo. ~ Oscar Peterson

Reading the Gospels, without the personality of Jesus, is like watching television with the sound turned off. ~ John Eldredge

I’ve come more to terms with the fact that I sound like myself. No matter what I do, I sound like myself. ~ Sondre Lerche

In the beginning, there was silence. And out of the silence came the sound. The sound is not here. ~ Daniel Barenboim

For example, after developing a sound similar to an elephant trumpeting, I wrote the song Elephant Talk which gave my elephant sound an appropriate place to live. ~ Adrian Belew

I have to choose my words carefully because I don’t want to sound like one of those who goes on about how things were better in my day. ~ Graham Taylor

The biggest compliment I get is that I don’t sound like anybody else. I think I value that as the highest compliment. ~ Burton Cummings

With technology now, you can go in and sing a song, and for $100,000, you will sound flawless. ~ Vince Neil

Before sight and sound hijacked our attention, we shared with all life a sort of common sense, a chemical sense that depended on direct contact with matter in the water or the air. ~ Lyall Watson

Some persons talk simply because they think sound is more manageable than silence. ~ Margaret Halsey

I don’t have a problem with delegation. I love to delegate. I am either lazy enough, or busy enough, or trusting enough, or congenial enough, that the notion leaving tasks in someone else’s lap doesn’t just sound wise to me, it sounds attractive. ~ John Ortberg

Wanting to give up?

He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”  (Luke 22:39-46, NRSV)

Have you ever gotten to that point you did not want to go on?

Or maybe you wanted tog o on, you just couldn’t see how you could go on?

Have you ever questioned what you know you are suppose to do with your life?

We have all been there. We feel like there is something we need to do, and yet we are reluctant to try it. We are reluctant to follow where we are being sent…

Maybe we are reluctant for good reason. Maybe part of our life has to die in order for us to move forward. Maybe we have to move to a new place and will lose many friends over what we need to do…

Do not fret, we are in good company. Jesus the night before His trip to the cross asked God if there was another way. “Do we have to do it this way…”

Jesus questioned God. He knew where He was going and what it was going to cost. He did not want to do it. He wanted another option. A plan B…

Yet He did not stop with His question of the plan… He accepted it. He said, “Are you sure this is the only way? And if you are sure, then what you want, not what I think is best.”

We need to give up control, and know that if it is meant to be, God will be in it, and it will happen regardless of how much we get in the way of it!

Step out in faith and know that God will be there as He promised, not to make it easy, but to see you make it through!

 

Patients!

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Above all, my beloved, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘Yes’ be yes and your ‘No’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. (James 5:7-12, NRSV)

Everything that is good is worth the wait…

Can you think of things you have had to wait for?

When I think about waiting on good things, my kids come to mind…

You find out you are going to have a baby and then you have to wait for them to fully come to you for a while. You wonder all the time, will I be a good father/mother? Am I really cut out to be a parent? What do I know about raising a child?

Or maybe it was your first car you waited for…

Or maybe the love of your life…

we have to be patient and wait in life all of the time. In fact in our American society we hurry up to get somewhere so we can wait in line…

We wait and wait and wait..

And here James tells us to be patient with one another and not to grumble against each other so that the world does not judge us. We need to take each other in stride, because in the end we will probably find that neither side was fully right, and we both needed to give a little. 

So suffer with your brothers and sisters as we wait, not make your brothers and sisters suffer while we wiat and be patient in all things.

Mercy…

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts— the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! (Psalm 57:1-11 ESV)

We all want mercy.

We want people to treat us not like feed for the lions. Or to use us for what we can give them. We want to be valued and seen as a productive part of society.

We want to have what we want…

Yet sometimes life gets in the way. But in the midst of the lions all around us and those who would dig a trap for us, we can find the mercy the world will not give us. We an find refuge under the wings of God.

Cry out to the Lord when the world around you seems to use you for their gain, know that the Lord always has a place of refuge for you and will shelter you and shower you with His mercy.

Name

The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” (Genesis 32:22-30 ESV)

Here we see Jacob wrestling with a man…

And morning comes and Jacob will not let the man to unless he blesses him. But the man wants to know Jacob’s name. Because he wants Jacob to confess to the life he has lived by cheating everyone out of what was theirs. Jacob is a cheat.

But instead of the man giving him his due, he changes his name.

Just like God does for us. He takes the names that society gives us and throws them away and calls us His child.

So forget what the world calls you and remember what God calls you: child!

Blind man…

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way. (Mark 10:46-52, NRSV)

I wonder who the blind man was in this story?

You see I think there were many blind men, as there were many who tried to keep Bartimaeus quiet…

Many sternly ordered him to be quiet… Who were these many?

Were they people standing there, or people from Jericho, or were they disciples, or followers of the way?

Bartimaeus knew who Jesus was and that if he could but see Him his whole world would change…

Do we look at Jesus this way?

Bartimaeus was made to beg because his blindness kept him from being an active part of the community, and thus he knew that if he could but see Jesus he would be accepted as a whole person. He knew that his understanding of who Jesus was/is would bring him back into the life everyone else knew as normal.

Do we look on Jesus as the one who can make our lives normal?

Do we look on Jesus as the one who will change our very existence?

Do we use Jesus to get what we want?

You see it would be easy for Bartimaeus to stay the way he is. He knows how to beg and obviously was doing ok, he is still alive… But to see Jesus means he can’t beg any more and he will have to work for his living.

Why risk it?

Is that how we want it?

Jesus just let me be blind and sit here and beg… I’m better on my own…

Or are we ready to shout all the louder when the world tells us, orders us sternly to be quiet?

I’m ready to see Jesus! To risk getting a life that is filled with beautiful colors and imagery and unlike anything I have ever known!

How about you?

Are you a blind person who wants to see?